There are a surprisingly high number of dog food brands out there. Plus, each brand has different recipes, which all contain different ingredients and benefits. There are a huge number of controversies out there, too. You’ll find varying opinions about just about every potential ingredient and feature dog food can have.

Therefore, choosing the correct dog food for your canine can be challenging. It’s difficult to know what really matters, and what is simply marketing.

We’ve done a bit of the legwork for you by comparing Life’s Abundance and Blue Buffalo. Both of these brands are known for their natural ingredients, but we’ll figure out which one is actually better for your dog below.

A Sneak Peek at the Winner: Blue Buffalo

After much research, it became apparent that Blue Buffalo is the better option. Not only is this food much easier to find and less expensive, but dogs seem to tolerate it much better. There are tons of reports regarding Life’s Abundance causing diarrhea and similar problems.

While Blue Buffalo is far from perfect, there are very few reports of dogs becoming sick, so we recommend it above Life Abundance.

Furthermore, Life Abundance seems to rely heavily on breeder recommendations. Many reviews mention that the breeder recommended the food. However, it has become apparent to us that the breeders make a commission when recommending this food.

About Life’s Abundance

Life’s Abundance is a multi-level marketing company that is best known for its human products, including skincare and cleaning products. However, they also make dog food and cat food, which they market through reps as well. You won’t find their food in any pet food stores. Instead, you have to purchase it through their marketers or on their website.

Upon researching the topic, we discovered that many of the breeders that recommend this food are actually representatives themselves, which means they are taking a cut. Many buyers weren’t aware of this when they purchased the food, so that’s something to keep in mind.

Life’s Abundance outsources its food production. They state that it is made in the USA. However, that’s about all they tell us about where their food is made. A third-party company seems to make all of their food, so they likely don’t have direct control over how their food is made.

About Blue Buffalo

Blue Buffalo is probably best known for its commercials advertising meat-based foods. To match this advertising, many of their foods are grain-free. However, they do have some grain-inclusive formulas, which may be better suited to your average dog.

However, their formulas also use a lot of peas and similar veggies, which is something to keep in mind. Most of them do not actually contain more meat, despite the advertising.

Blue Buffalo was founded in 2003, making it one of the older brands on the market. However, they have undergone many recalls over the years. They have also been sued because of false advertising. However, these cases have been dropped.

Today, they offer many different formulas and cater to most dogs. They have far more formulas than Life’s Abundance, though they don’t necessarily have more formulas than other major dog food brands out there.

The 3 Most Popular Life’s Abundance Dog Food Recipes

While this company only recently started making dog food, they currently offer many different formulas. Let’s take a look at some of their most popular options:

1. Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Recipe

Out of all their dog food options, the Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Recipe is easily their most popular. This formula contains lamb meal as the first ingredient, as the name suggests. The inclusion of lamb meal makes this formula far more nutrient-dense than other options, as it is a very concentrated source of protein. Plus, it isn’t a common allergen, so many dogs can benefit from eating it.

Furthermore, this formula includes both probiotics and prebiotics. Both of these ingredients are vital for improving your dog’s overall digestive health and dogs with more sensitive stomachs may enjoy this dog food.

We also love that this formula includes tons of antioxidants, including vitamins C and E. These help prevent oxidative stress, which is linked to a wide variety of diseases. Therefore, antioxidants can prevent problems far before they occur.

Plus, this recipe includes high amounts of healthy fats, like omega fatty acids. These come from sunflower oil and some other included sources. These fatty acids help improve your dog’s overall health, as they are vital for their connective tissue.

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2. All Life Stages Chicken Recipe

As the name suggests, the All Life Stages Chicken Recipe is a great option for dogs at any age. It includes enough protein and nutrients to help puppies grow, but it isn’t so calorie-dense that older dogs can’t eat it. With that said, we don’t recommend it for dogs that are overweight, as it does seem a bit more calorie-dense than other foods.

The very first ingredient in this food is chicken meal, which works well for many dogs. Chicken meal is simply chicken that has had much of the water content removed. Therefore, it is more calorie-dense and nutritious than other options. While chicken is a common allergen, this food should work fine if your dog isn’t allergic to chicken.

Like all this brand’s formulas, this option does include high amounts of antioxidants. These come from added vitamins, as well as an array of fruits and veggies this formula includes. For instance, the formula even includes blueberries, as they are high in antioxidants.

Chicken fat appears to be the main source of fat in this food. It provides the extra fats that your dog needs to thrive, especially if they are growing puppies. Generally, animal fats work better for dogs than plant-based sources.

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3. Grain-Free All Life Stages Recipe

While grain allergies aren’t terribly common, they can occur. In this case, we recommend this grain-free option. Like the previous formula we reviewed, this grain-free food works for all life stages. Therefore, you can start your puppy on it and continue to feed it to them throughout its life.

This formula primarily contains turkey meal, which is high in protein. Like other meat meals, turkey meal is extremely high in protein, as much of the water content has been removed. Therefore, we find that it works well for a variety of dogs. For some variance, a chicken meal is also included.

On top of this quality protein, probiotics are also included. These microorganisms help improve your dog’s digestive system, which has a huge effect on your dog’s overall health, as well. Just about any dog out there should be eating food with probiotics in it.

The 3 Most Popular Blue Buffalo Dog Food Recipes

1. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Healthy Weight Dog Food

If your dog is overweight, you may want to consider Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Healthy Weight Adult Chicken & Brown Rice. This formula includes both deboned chicken and chicken meal as the first two ingredients. Both of these provide the protein and fat needed for your dog to thrive, while also losing weight.

As a grain-inclusive formula, brown rice and barley are both included. These ingredients provide extra fiber and other nutrients that your dog needs. This fiber is particularly helpful when your pet is trying to lose weight.

On top of these helpful ingredients, this formula includes L-carnitine, which may help with cellular metabolism. As you might expect, this may be vital for dogs trying to lose weight. Glucosamine and chondroitin are also included, as they provide joint support. Overweight dogs are more prone to joint problems, so this extra support is extremely helpful.

We also like that all the minerals in this food are chelated, which makes them more absorbable.

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2. Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken Recipe Dry Dog Food

The Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken Recipe is one of this company’s classic, grain-free formulas. It works well for dogs that are sensitive to grain, though we don’t necessarily recommend it for all dogs.

The first ingredient is chicken, which provides plenty of amino acids and other vital nutrients. Most dogs do quite well with chicken, though it is a common allergen.

However, just because this formula isn’t grain-inclusive doesn’t mean that it contains more meat. Instead, this formula utilizes potatoes and peas as its main source of carbohydrates. Both of these ingredients are potentially harmful to dogs in high amounts according to the FDA. Therefore, we recommend keeping this in mind before purchasing this dog food.

We did like that this formula includes antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. All of the nutrients that your dog needs (and some extras) are included in this food.

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3. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Large Breed Dry Dod Food

If you have a larger dog, we recommend the Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Large Breed. This formula is specifically designed for large-breed dogs, as the name suggests. Therefore, it includes all the extra nutrients that large dogs might need, including glucosamine and chondroitin. Both of these ingredients improve your dog’s joint health, which is vital for larger breeds.

L-carnitine is also included. This ingredient helps dogs burn carbohydrates for energy, which can improve their overall health and weight. Chelated minerals are also added. These are common in high-quality dog foods, as they have improved absorption.

Corn, wheat, and soy are not included in this food. Therefore, it works great for dogs that have sensitivities.

Recall History of Life’s Abundance and Blue Buffalo

Life’s Abundance is a relatively newer dog food brand. Therefore, they currently do not have any recalls. However, that doesn’t mean that they won’t have recalls in the future. Instead, it is likely that they are simply starting out and haven’t had any time to have a recall just yet.

Blue Buffalo has been around for much longer. However, they have also had quite a few recalls over the years—more than your average brand. Plus, their recalls are occasionally quite serious, leading to the death of a few dogs. Their recall rate has diminished over the last few years, though. They may have increased the safety standards for their foods or sought out new suppliers

Life’s Abundance vs. Blue Buffalo Comparison

Ingredients

Overall, these companies use pretty similar ingredients. Life’s Abundance utilizes mostly named meat meals in their recipes, though Blue Buffalo utilizes these, too. The main difference is that Blue Buffalo utilizes more peas than Life’s Abundance, which may be a problem for some dogs.

Blue Buffalo does seem to include more extra nutrients, like L-carnitine. While this won’t matter for all dogs, it can matter a lot for some.

Variety

Blue Buffalo has far more available recipes than Life’s Abundance. Therefore, if you’re looking for something in particular, you’re much more likely to find what you’re looking for in the Blue Buffalo brand. However, Life’s Abundance may increase their available recipe in the years to come, especially since they have only recently begun to make dog food at all.

Price

Life’s Abundance is far more expensive than Blue Buffalo. You also won’t find this food in most pet stores and so you’ll also have to pay for shipping. Typically, you can only order Life’s Abundance from the company’s website or through a representative.

Therefore, you can’t utilize the cheaper shipping that many larger websites offer.

Safety

Life’s Abundance has technically had fewer recalls than Blue Buffalo. However, Blue Buffalo typically has rave reviews about the quality of their dog food—with very few mentions of dogs getting sick. On the other hand, Life’s Abundance has many reviews stating that it caused GI problems in the reviewer’s dogs. Often, medical attention was sought.

You may want to be cautious when feeding your dog Life’s Abundance.

Overall

If you just looked at the ingredients alone, Life’s Abundance would win. They don’t use as many peas, which leaves them with a win in this regard.

However, Life’s Abundance is extremely expensive, and they have tons of negative reviews with people claiming their dogs have been sickened by the food. For this reason, we cannot recommend them to most dog owners.

Blue Buffalo easily snatches up the win due to these prevalent problems with Life’s Abundance. Plus, we love that Blue Buffalo included chelated minerals and a range of different nutrients that Life’s Abundance did not include.

Conclusion

Both of these brands were pretty close in terms of ingredients and the information a quick look at the foods provided. However, after studying each option more in-depth, it appears that Life’s Abundance is known for making dogs sick. They have far more one-star reviews for this reason.

Blue Buffalo also has quite a few benefits that Life’s Abundance doesn’t. For one, this company provides a wide variety of recipes, so you’re more likely to find something that works for your dog. Plus, they also provide chelated minerals and a host of other nutrients that aren’t provided in all dog foods.

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Featured Image Credit: dogboxstudio, Shutterstock